Tnf-α inhibition by infliximab as a new target for the prevention of glycerol-contrast-induced nephropathy

•Inflammatory process plays a role on contrast-induced nepropathy.•Infliximab, which is a TNF-α inhibitor, is used as antiinflammatory agent on a lot problem.•We firstly showed that infliximab has a protective role in nephrotoxicity.

Contrast medium-induced nephropathy (CIN) remains as a problem with high incidence and mortality rates. The aim of this study is to examine the roles of infliximab (INF) in the glycerol (GLY) and CIN model in rats. The rats were separated into five groups (n = 8): Healthy, GLY, GLY + CM, GLY + CM + INF 5 mg/kg intraperitoneally (i.p.), and GLY + CM + INF 7 mg/kg (i.p.).Antioxidant levels in the therapy groups were observed to be quite similar to those in the healthy group. In this study, while the kidney TNF-α, IL-1β, TGF-1β and Caspase 3 gene expressions' levels increased in the nephrotoxic groups, these levels were found to have decreased in the treatment groups. Moreover, histopathologic examination showed that hyaline, haemorrhagic casts and necrosis were increased in nephrotoxicity group, whereas they decreased in the therapy group. Furthermore, TNF-α and NF-κB expression were decreased with infliximab administrated groups similar to control group. In conclusion, we suggest that infliximab have protective roles on CIN.